French Frdays with Dorie

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

TWD: Great Grains Muffin

I love muffins, they are such a delight to make. So many different flavor combinations, quick cooking, and no mixer needed.

I cut this recipe in half and got eight muffins in my batch. I swear I do not know how Dorie only gets one dozen out of the full mixture. I always get at least 18 from a full batch. I even bought new muffin tins a few months ago to ensure I had the proper normal sized ones.

I think the thing that took the longest today was allowing the melted butter to cool. Funny, I was just looking at a biscuit recipe yesterday, it said to mix melted butter into buttermilk before adding it to the dry ingredients. Apparently the cold buttermilk solidifies some of the melted butter. This acts a bit like the cutting of cold butter into flour does, the larger pieces melt slower than the smaller ones giving you a lighter finished product. I haven't made them yet, but they seem a lot like Dorie's cream biscuits (one of my favorite-ultra easy recipes).

At any rate, my biscuits were made with molasses instead of maple syrup. Because I could not find my maple syrup and I wasn't going to go and buy a new bottle. I know I have one somewhere. Plus, I don't care much for maple and I adore molasses, so win-win for me.

The molasses really give you a darker hue to your crumb, but I like that. I also quite liked the al dente crunch provided by the corn meal. I had forgotten I used the meal and when the muffin had the tiny resistance I thought, what is going on -- then of course, my genius kicked in and I remembered. I used a handful of chopped walnuts and a handful of raisins as a bonus in my muffins. You can find this recipe posted by Christine at Happy Tummy. (Love that name.)